New Again
by GeekyLola
Summary: It's been two weeks since Piper had her surgery. Just as she and Leo feared, she doesn't remember anything from the past month. If fact, she may have lost more of her memory than they previously thought she would. The only familiar faces around her are Hunter and Delaney Shaw. But clinging to the only people she really knows could ruin Leo's chances of winning her heart again.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Hello all! Sorry it took so long for me to get this up, but here it is! I just wanted everyone to know that Piper's tone will seem different, but remember, she told Leo she wouldn't be the same girl he knew if she lost some of her memory. Also, just a heads up, this story will switch POVs sometimes. But it will still mainly follow Piper.

* * *

**2 Weeks Later**

"Good morning Piper, ready for speech therapy?" Katelyn smiled brightly as she entered my room. Nurse Jackson had already made me comfortable for the day and promised that after speech therapy that hot PT guy, Mike, would come through to exercise my legs and arms.

Katelyn was alright, a bit perky for my taste, like Nurse Brittany who was always trying to make me look on the bright side of things. Unlike Brittany though, Katelyn was like fifty with grey hair and a bit of a grandmotherly feel to her. But, despite my dislike of her overly perky nature, Katelyn got results. I was talking again for the most part. Dr. McAndrew was really impressed because it was faster than most people learned.

"M-morning K-atelyn." Yeah, I did say for the most part. Hard syllables gave me trouble, and m and n…couldn't figure out why though. "How are you?"

"Good, thank you for asking. You sound like you just keep improving. You might be rid of me sooner than you thought." Katelyn smiled.

"Well, you're a g-ood t-eacher." I tried to hold back my frustration.

"Don't get discouraged, Piper. You are doing a really good job." Katelyn soothed my anger. Funny thing was I was really good at talking while I was angry. But Katelyn wanted me to get there while calm as well. "Now, let's start the lesson." Katelyn pulled out her tape recorder and flash cards and our hour long speech therapy began.

Each day I got a little better at speaking, and Katelyn let me know it. But the piano which sat at the back of my room, my piano, made me feel like just talking wasn't enough. In my mind, two weeks ago I was well on my way to my free ride to Julliard. In my mind I was just fine two weeks ago. And yet, I know, because of what my parents, doctors and nurses tell me, that I have been sick for over a month and I have been living in this hospital that long and apparently I had friends here. But I couldn't image myself making a life in this hospital. Not when I'm so determined to leave.

There was his girlfriend, Emma. She had an eating disorder. I didn't know how I felt about her, she was sort of mousy, but she had her moments of outburst. She was also avoiding me for some reason, but I guess it was better that I didn't know why. She seemed nice enough, but she just wasn't my type of person. She was too uptight.

I definitely couldn't imagine being friends with the people I was told I was friends with. That boy Jordi spoke Spanish to me like we were old friends, but I had seen him selling drugs once or twice when my parents came to roll me around on what they called "My daily walk".

Then there was that girl Kara, who seemed like everything I hated in a person. She was rude, selfish and a cheerleader. She seemed like all she cared about was making people fear her. Why would I ever hang out with someone like that? Had I become her lackey at some point? That didn't seem like me either.

There was the guy called Dash, who seemed like maybe I could be friends with. That was, if he wasn't always trying to have sex with someone. Well, someone specific, my friend Laney, who most people knew as Delaney Shaw, the pop star. I couldn't imagine being around someone who was always trying to get in my friends pants.

I remembered when I first learned that Laney was at the same hospital; that we had been at the same hospital the whole time. She was so shocked to see me I figured we hadn't run into each other somehow. Then she explained that she just hadn't expected me to be awake so soon after my surgery.

It was great to know that I had been right about our friendship, that we had survived her raise to fame and were still as close as ever. I was happy when she told me all the things we'd done together.

There really was only one other person at the hospital besides Laney I could talk to, and that was Hunter. I hadn't seen him since we were younger, and I couldn't believe that we'd ended up in the same hospital, and getting surgery on the same day. The serendipitous nature of the situation seemed too much to ignore, at first. Then I realized that Ocean Park was known as one of the best hospitals in all of California, and since we all had pretty serious issues, it actually made sense that we would be sent there.

"Hey, Piper." I looked up as my parents rolled me through the hospital. It was that boy, Leo. He came by to say hi to me at least once a day. I didn't know how I felt about him. He was friends with all the other people I had also, apparently been friends with, and I didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Those people weren't my kind of people, so maybe that also meant he wasn't my type of person. But he was always sweet to me, and my dad told me he was the one who got my piano to the hospital, so I was forcing myself to give him a chance.

"H-hey, Leo." I tried to smile politely at him, but I grimaced a bit at my inability to say even the simplest of sentences.

My parents also greeted Leo warmly. They seemed to be on very good terms with each other. It was weird to think that my parents remembered someone that I didn't. Especially since he and I had been so close.

"You're getting better." He smiled, obviously trying to make me feel better.

"Your hair's g-getting longer." I said, nodding my head towards his. There was this flash of something in his eyes when I said that. He seemed hopeful for a moment.

"So is yours." He pointed to my head. One of the other things I didn't remember was telling Nurse Jackson, who has been taking care of me this whole time, to shave my whole head instead of just a chuck of it. I regret that though, my head is always cold.

"Pipes! Looking good." Laney sauntered over, winking at me.

"H-hey Laney, what's g-oing on?" I smiled back.

"Hey, Delaney." Leo said, but it held none of the warmth it did when he greeted me. It never did, and I couldn't understand why.

"Leo." Laney was cooler in her greeting to him as well, but she was never quite as cold as Leo was to her. It was also one of the reasons I was so unsure as to whether I could be friends with Leo or not. He and Delaney clearly didn't get along, but they both tried hard to hide it from me. "Mind if I steal my bestie away from you?" She smiled.

"Of course not. I'll see you around, Piper." Leo smiled at me again, before walking off. The limp in his step was almost nonexistent now. He would be able to go home soon.

"Laney?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you and Leo so c-c-c…weird around each other?"

"We aren't." She dropped the conversation quickly, and, after asking my parents if she could, Laney took over pushing my chair and rushed me down the hall.

* * *

**1 Week Earlier**

"She's lost a little more than just this past month, we can now see that clearly." Dr. McAndrew was explaining to Leo and Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. "Based on what you've told me, it seems like everything from these last few months are all jumbled bits and pieces in her memory. It's up to all of you to fill in the blanks as best and accurately as you can."

"What happened if we get something wrong?" Leo asked.

"Her entire personality could change. Piper is who she is because of everything that has happened up until now. If you start filling in her blank spaces with a different story, she's not the same girl you know anymore, because her experiences were different."

"Thank you, Dr. McAndrew. Come on, let's get back to Piper." Mr. Douglas said, helping his wife up. Leo followed behind silently worrying that he would mess something up and lose Piper.

Unfortunately, when they got back to the room, Piper wasn't alone. Delaney Shaw was in there, and they were talking, well Delaney was doing most of the talking and Piper was smiling and listening.

"What are you doing in here?" Mrs. Douglas asked.

"Mmom," Piper smiled. "L-aney c-c-ame by t-to see mme. D-id you knn-ow she w-as in the ssame os-p-ital." Piper sighed was she finished the sentence. It took a lot of energy out of her to talk, and almost every word was a struggle. It broke Leo's heart.

"Yes, that is great, but your dad and I would like some time with you now. Would you excuse us Delaney?" Mrs. Douglas was flat out cold to Delaney when she said this. She didn't even pretend to still like the girl. Delaney seemed to sense this too because she nodded and left quickly.

Leo followed after her.

"Hey, Delaney, what did you tell Piper?" Leo stopped her from rushing away.

"I didn't tell her anything." Delaney shrugged, trying to act nonchalant.

"That's a lie. She was pissed when she saw you in this hospital not two days ago. I highly doubt she'd be so excited to see you if she remembered what you did to her."

"But she doesn't." Delaney smiled. Something wicked could be seen in the back of that smile, and it worried Leo.

"What did you do?"

"I lied. I told her we were still friends, I didn't tell her what I did."

"How could you do that to her?"

"I needed my friend back!" Delaney snapped. "Piper was the only person who ever cared about me, just because of who I was. She never used me for my talent, and now I'm surrounded by people that only care about me as long as I am talented, and popular. I missed having one real friend."

"So your solution is to not be that friend to her, and instead use her unfortunate circumstances to your advantage and lie to her? You really are a terrible friend. If you really cared about her you'd tell her the truth and ask for her forgiveness. Tell her everything you just told me."

"And risk her still hating me? I don't think so. This is the best way I have to get her back."

"Well, if you won't tell her, I will." Leo turned to head back to Piper's room.

"Go ahead, but just remember this, she doesn't even know you." Leo froze. "That's right, you think about that. She knows me, she trusts me, and I'm her friend. You're just some random guy, who is telling her that her best friend is a bad person. Who do you think she'll believe?" Leo turned back to Delaney then. "Exactly, but if you let me have this, I can help you too."

"What do you mean?"

"If you try to tell her the truth, I will poison her against you. But, if you let me keep her as a friend, I'll put in a good word for you, tell her nice things about you. Then, maybe you can win her back. But I can also tell you this, if you don't take my help, she'll never love you again. She already told me she doesn't think she could've been friends with those kids you guys used to hang out with."

"You're lying."

"Am I really? If she hadn't gotten to know you all over that last month, do you think she would have just jumped into a friendship with you? If she had friends back home, friends like me; do you think she would have? She doesn't remember anything that you do. All she has to go on is what she sees now, and I have to tell you, you guys haven't been putting your best feet forward." Delaney smirked confidently.

Doubt started to fill Leo's mind. Could he honestly risk losing Piper to Delaney Shaw? "Fine, I won't tell her the truth, but if you do one thing to hurt her, I will. I don't care if it means I could lose her too."

"You really are a smart guy, Leo. I can kind of see why Pipes fell for you."

"She hates that nickname."

"Not anymore." Delaney sang as she started towards her room once more.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **My apologies to all you lovely followers and favoriters for the long wait! Once the show went off I sort of lost my way…but its back, and I'm back and I have a plan! I will say the medical of this chapter is very most likely not sound, so if it seems unrealistic, I apologize. Feel free to let me know if you have suggestions. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

The brain is an amazing thing, when it knows there are things it might forget, or lose the other parts start to pick up the slack and hold on to the bits of you you'd thought you lost.

As another week passed, I started talking more smoothly. As that began to happen, there was this feeling, like an itch, in my brain, something I couldn't scratch but it was driving me crazy because I knew if I could just figure out what it was the itch would leave. The morning the speech centers of my brain clicked, that was the moment the itch started.

I woke up that morning feeling like something had changed in the night, like my brain had been hard at work rewiring things hoping to be done by the time I awoke. When Nurse Brittany came in to greet me I just knew today would be different. "Good morning Nurse Brittany."

My heart started pounding against my rib cage. For three weeks I had been struggling to get a simple sentence out, and today, this morning it flowed like it used to. It was effortless for the first time in three weeks and we were both shocked to hear it.

Brittany stopped what she was doing and stared at me, and I stared right back. Our faces had matching looks of surprised happiness, mouths slightly opened but we were clearly smiling. "Good morning, Piper?" She was so shocked it came out as a question instead of a statement.

"Good morning, Brittany." I said again, the smile on my face growing larger by the second. It hadn't been a fluke or just a stroke of luck. Something had finally clicked, something was finally working right.

"Oh my God." Brittany gasped, her own smile growing as well. "I have to get Nurse Jackson." She said excitedly, rushed back out of the room. I could hear her calling out to Jackson as she ran. The muffled sound of an annoyed Nurse Jackson could be heard from my room, until Brittany began speaking again, presumably telling her what had just happened. Then two pairs of feet could be heard rushing back towards me.

Jackson and Brittany skidded into the room, catching the attention of Hunter, Kara and Dash as they went. The three followed behind trying to find out if something was wrong without intruding. It was times like that where I could see how I might've actually been friends with Dash and Kara. Their blatant worry for me, even though I'd made no attempt to rekindle the friendship I'd forgotten we'd ever had, was heartwarming.

"Good morning, Piper. Brittany tells me you have some exciting news to share." Jackson raised an eyebrow.

"I guess you could call it exciting. I mean it's no big deal, I can just talk now!" My attempt to keep cool, quickly fell away as I started laughing and tearing up hearing myself speak smoothly and clearly for the first time in weeks.

"AH!" Jackson threw her hands up excitedly and came over to hug me. "I knew you could do it. Did I tell you?" She smiled at me.

"Welcome back Piper!" Hunter smirked.

"I never thought I'd actually miss your voice." Kara joked, and for the first time since I'd woken up, I finally saw what I must've seen in her the first time around, what Hunter must've seen in her since they were dating and he clearly loved her.

"Man, I gotta tell Leo, he's gonna be so excited to talk to you." Dash said. "Congrats, Piper. It's good to hear you sound like your old self again." Dash waved and then rushed off to find his best friend.

That's how the itching began. Dash rushed off and Kara finally showed me why we had once been friends, and as I sat there completely unable to stop smiling, the itch suddenly began in the back on my mind. It was like something was trying to get out, be noticed, and be heard.

"Well, you know what that means right?" Jackson eyed me happily. Happy was a weird look on her, but I liked it. It meant she cared about me.

"What does it mean?"

"Now the real hard part begins. You'll start PT tomorrow to get the rest of you back in working order. I'll set it up in the morning because you'll need your rest afterwards." Jackson said walking out; leaving Brittany to finish what she had originally came into the room to do.

After Brittany finished checking me and exercising my legs, and dressing me because I couldn't dress myself, she placed me in my wheelchair and let Hunter take me out around the hospital.

"Hey, Hunter?" I asked as we walked…or he walked and I rolled, around our floor.

"Yep?"

"What do you seen in Kara?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"An honest on." I state simply, think had I been able to I would have shrugged. "Seriously, people told me we used to be friends, but she's rude, and confusing. Sometimes I can almost see how we could've been friends, but other times I think I would never have put up with her."

"You were friends, and she has been that rude and confusing as long as both of us have known her. But think on those moments where you think you guys could've been friends. Those are the moments that make me love her. Those are the moments that you saw and made you want to be her friend. She's not all bad and you know it. As a matter of fact, I think that's exactly why you're asking about her. I think you might remember, but you're too stubborn to admit you could've been wrong about her." Hunter smirked, trying to get inside my head, as he usually did.

"I don't remember, actually." The itch in the back of my mind grew stronger. I scrunched my nose at it. "But, today I did feel like I saw something that made me see how I could've been friends with her, at least some of the time."

"I say go with that instinct." Hunter smiled.

"You just want me to like her so you don't feel weird about having a friend not like your girlfriend." I laughed.

"I don't care that you don't like her. I just want you to remember what you've forgotten." Hunter was suddenly serious.

"Thanks Hunter."

* * *

In stark contrast to the morning's events, when I talked to Laney for the first time, with the incessant itch growing more obnoxious with each passing second, she simply sighed and said, "Finally! Do you know how annoying your stuttering was getting?" She laughed.

I just this knot in the pit of my stomach, something of a mix between disappointment and met expectations. "Thanks, Lane." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Oh, don't get all sensitive." She brushed off my obvious annoyance and I couldn't help but wonder how she had changed so much.

When she'd first found me after the surgery she'd told me we were still best friends. She'd said nothing between us had changed and we still hung out all the time. But the memory of who she was in my mind was so different from the girl that stood in front of me. For some reason I couldn't understand how the girl in front of me could still be my best friend. There was always this feeling like I was missing something with her and I couldn't understand what.

"Laney, I'm feeling tired. Do you think you could wheel me back to my room?"

"Well, I can't right now, but let me get that angry nurse." Delaney left the room and returned with Nurse Jackson.

"Come on Piper; let's get you back to bed." Nurse Jackson smiled.

I smiled tightly, unable to shake the confused feeling in both my head and my heart. As we started down the hall, we ran into Leo. He was smiling brightly as he saw us.

"Hey, Piper!"

"Hey Leo." I tried to sound happy, but I couldn't bring myself to regain my previous excitement.

"So Dash was telling the truth? You're talking again. That's great!"

"Thanks." I felt the blush creep into my cheeks.

"Hey, Jackson, mind if I take over from here?" Leo asked.

"Well, I was just going to take Piper to lie down; she said she was tired…"

"I'm alright." I piped up.

"Alright, then." Nurse Jackson released me into Leo's care and walked off to see to somebody else.

"Are you really tired? I can take you to your room." Leo offered.

"No…I just didn't want to hang out with Delaney anymore." I answer honestly, wondering all the while why.

"Trouble in paradise?" Leo jokes.

"Why do you make it sound like we're dating?" I scrunch my nose even though he can't see it. "I don't know. There's like this itch in the back of my head…have you ever gotten that? It feels like I've forgotten something and my brain is trying to help me remember what it is but…I don't know I just can't."

"Have you tried focusing on it? I hear that helps sometimes."

"I just want it to go away." I grumble.

"Well, if your brain is trying to make you remember I don't think it's going to go away."

"So what? I should just sit around meditating on it?" I joked.

"Maybe…but I don't know if that will work. But it's gotta be better than trying to ignore it and driving yourself crazy right?"

I didn't answer. I knew he was probably right, but I wasn't sure I wanted to remember what I'd lost thanks to that tumor. I had obviously, by the looks of my hair, resigned myself to the loss. Perhaps I was glad not to remember it.

As I thought about my hair I remembered how cold my head was and sighed, wishing I could at least reach a hand up to try to protect it from the chilly hospital air.

"What's wrong?"

I chuckled, embarrassed at my predicament, but also realizing that he probably understood quite well how a cold head felt.

"My head is cold." I admit. "I sort of regret telling them to cut all my hair off. I guess I didn't think about how cold my head would be afterwards, or that I wouldn't be able to move my arms so I wouldn't be able to cover it or anything."

"I think I might have something to help." Leo said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. He began pushing me back the way we'd come, towards his room. When we got there Jordi was on his bed reading some magazine.

"Hey, Piper." He smiled at me as we entered.

"Hi Jordi."

"Whoa, you can talk again! That's awesome." He laughed.

"Yeah, it just happened this morning." My mood was steadily beginning to perk up again, but getting the reactions I had hoped to get from Delaney from Leo and Jordi instead still bothered me in the pit of my stomach. I kept remembering how everyone had told me that these were my friends. I kept remembering how many times I'd heard from people around the hospital that these were the people I spent all my time with and it wasn't until this very moment that it occurred to me that not once had any of those people mentioned Delaney, and she had hardly mention any of these guys.

"Here you go." Leo brought my attention back to him. In his hand was a grey beanie. "I wore this around a lot when my head was completely bald. But since my hair started growing back I don't really need it." He smiled as he walked back towards me and placed the beanie on my head. Instantly my head felt warmer and I sighed. "I think it looks better on you anyway." Leo smiled, his face inches from my own as he examined my new look.

As we sat there, I had the sudden feeling of déjà-vu. I could almost tell that we had been there before, maybe not with me in a wheelchair, and maybe not with this grey beanie on my head, but the look in his eyes as he stood so close to me tugged at my brain desperately, begging me to remember while this all felt so familiar. The tugging became so desperate that my head started to hurt.

"I think I'm getting a headache." I whispered.

"I'll take you back to your room." Leo smiled kindly but in his eyes there was sadness.

"Bye Jordi." I said, without even thinking about it. It was the first time I bothered to talk to him first, and even that felt more right than any of the time I'd spent with Delaney.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day I woke up to Nurse Jackson. She helped me get cleaned up and dressed as usual and as she dressed me we talked.

"Nurse Jackson?"

"Yes?"

"How long do you think it will be before I can bathe myself?" I blushed as I asked the question. I hated needing someone else to bathe me in the mornings and dress me like I was a baby. It felt embarrassing and as much as I wanted to be able to play piano again, I found that wanting to be able to bathe myself again actually became a more prominent wish in my mind.

Nurse Jackson stopped what she was doing and smiled kindly at me. "I know this doesn't feel great, needing someone to do everything for you. But honestly, I don't know how long it will take. That all depends on you. So when I take you down there today, you better work harder for it than you have worked for anything else in your life, because that determination and strength is what's going to get you through this."

After that, Jackson called for the orderly to put me in my wheelchair and she took my down to the PT room. The room was surprisingly full of people of all ages. Older men and women were exercising their hips and legs, younger people learning to walk and use prosthetics, and even young children, some struggling with prosthetics, some trying to get out of wheelchairs, some just being exercised because they would never move again. For a moment it was a lot for me to take in. I wondered where I would be working and who would be working with me. Then Mike walked up to us and smiled.

"Hello Piper, glad to see they finally brought you down to me."

"Hey Mike. Are you going to be the one working with me?" Suddenly I wasn't so against the idea of PT. If I could look at Hot Mike for an hour or so a day, I could probably endure.

"Yes I am." Mike continued to smile as Nurse Jackson passed me off to him with a promise to come back in two hours for me. "Let's get started."

Mike pushed me to one of the leather covered beds in the room. It has a single white cashed pillow at the head and nothing else. He picked me up and laid me on the bed all the while explaining he would exercise my legs for me each day before I started trying to move them myself and that I would be working my arms.

"But I can't move my arms. I can't even move my fingers yet."

"Well, isn't that what you're here for, to get to that point?" Mike laughed. "Come on, while I'm exercising your legs, start trying to move your finger." He pointed to my pointer finger.

"Just that one?"

"Yep, just the pointer. We're taking it one step at a time."

So that's what I did for two hours while Mike worked out my muscles and encouraged me. For two hours I lay, then sat there sweating from the effort of trying to move a single finger. By the time Nurse Jackson came, I still hadn't moved it.

"See you tomorrow Piper," Mike smiled. "And keep trying."

I said nothing to him.

"How was your first day?" Jackson asked as she pushed me towards my room.

"I couldn't move my finger…how do you think it was?" I snapped.

"It's was your first day," Jackson reminded me. "This isn't all going to happen at once."

"I couldn't even move one damn finger."

"Piper, these things don't happen like magic. It's going to take work and it's going to take time, but most importantly you need to be patient. You won't get anything done if you give up on yourself in the first day."

"Nurse Jackson, I know you mean well but none of this is making me feel better. Can I just lie down for a while?" She doesn't answer, but she does wheel me to my room and gets me into bed. She left without a word, but a few minutes later someone knocked on my door.

"Hey Piper," Leo walked in smiling. "How's it going?"

"Fine, just fine. Can you please go away?" Leo, seemingly unfazed by my unwarranted anger, nodded and turned to leave. He always seemed to take everything I threw at him in stride, and I found myself wondering once again exactly how close we'd been for him to put up with me. That made me feel guilty and I sighed, "I had my first PT session today."

He turned back, looking not the least bit surprised by my sudden change of heart. "It didn't go well?"

"I couldn't even move my finger." I sighed in frustration. "I mean, how pathetic is that? All Mike asked me to do was move a finger and I couldn't even manage that!"

"You think that's pathetic? After my surgery I didn't even go to PT. I just wanted to sit in my room and wallow in all the things I had lost. For a long time I refused to use my prosthetic. You're already strides ahead of where I was, trying to get better."

"You…you played soccer, didn't you?" I asked as that nagging itch in the back of my head pushed at me again.

"I – yeah, I did. Did you remember that?" His voice was hopeful again.

"I don't know…I might have heard one of the nurses talking about it." I knew that was a lie the moment I was finished spouting it. I wasn't sure how or why I knew he had played, but I did know.

"Yeah, right." Leo's face held a distinct look of disbelief.

"Every time I'm near you I get this feeling of déjà-vu."

"Well, we did spend a lot of time together." Leo answered honestly, but I still felt like he was holding something back. "Anyway, I should let you rest; I know how draining PT can be."

"Alright, I'll see you later, Leo."

"Yeah you will," he smiled before leaving.

* * *

Later that afternoon Emma stopped in, to my absolute surprise. She seemed nervous to be near me and I wondered if she even knew I didn't remember what happened between us. Maybe it was bad enough that it didn't matter.

"Hey," she started hesitantly.

"Hey," I answered back. "You seem…uncomfortable."

She chuckled a little. "You were always bluntly observant, it seems."

I blushed wondering what other things I'd said to her. "Sorry?"

"You definitely don't owe me an apology. But I do owe you one."

"You know I don't remember what happened, don't you?"

"I do, but you were my friend, are my friend and I still owe you an apology."

"What happened between us?"

"I left the hospital."

"And I was mad at you for it? Doesn't sound like I was a very good friend." I tried to joke.

"That's not it at all." Emma looked at me almost as though she was insulted I would accuse myself of being a bad friend. "I wasn't ready to go; I should have never been released. But I lied to everyone, the doctors, the nurses, even Jordi. I told them what they wanted to hear so they would let me go. You were the only one who saw through it and told me to stay."

"But you didn't listen to me," I surmised. Everything about what she was saying was so familiar, but it felt like I was trying to remember something a past life went through, or like trying to remember a dream. Everything was foggy and faded, and every time I tried to hold on to it, it would retreat further into my mind. "I feel like I remember this, but it's so hard."

"You know Brittany meditates sometimes, maybe if you try it you'll remember something."

"Yeah, except she meditates for selfish reasons." The words had slipped out before I fully understood what I was saying, but once I did I realized I knew that for some reason, it was a reference to something I couldn't quite remember but I knew it made sense somewhere in my mind. I looked to Emma in complete shock, "I don't…how?"

"I think you just remembered something," she spoke with the same shocked expression I wore.

"But I didn't, I mean I don't know why I said that or even what it means."

"Maybe consciously you don't, but I think your subconscious does. It happens sometimes in patients who have memory loss. Your brain always has a backup plan. When you lose memories they aren't really lost, they just got misplaced."

"You sound like you know what you're talking about."

"I read a lot, always have."

"Me too," I smiled. I was beginning to wonder if everything I thought about Emma was wrong. She was my friend enough to apologize for something I didn't even remember, and here we were, having a comfortable conversation. "Hey, do you think we could hang out more?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, I only really talk to Laney and Hunter," I wish I could shrug. "I could use some other friends…I mean ones I can remember."

"Yeah, that sounds great. I know this won't really make any sense to you but, I've really missed hanging out with you."

I smile sadly at Emma, and for the first time I wish I could remember what I'd forgotten.

* * *

**An: **That's right, I'm back, the story is back and I will be completing it soon! Sorry for making you all wait months, but consider the hiatus officially over!


	4. Chapter 4

To say PT is slow going would be an understatement. Every day I was down in the exercise room trying to move my finger, every moment of free time I was trying to move my finger, and in between trying to move my finger, I was trying to move my finger and I was finally trying to listen to that annoying itch in the back of my head.

Three days after my first PT session, Hunter was in my room reading, albeit begrudgingly, to me since I couldn't hold my own books. He didn't have the same flare audio books did, when asked he had flat out refused to do voices, but I enjoyed spending time with him none-the-less. He wasn't nearly as grumpy as he wanted everyone to believe he was.

"Are you really not going to do the voices?" I pouted at him.

"You're lucky I'm even in here reading to you right now. I feel ridiculous," he glared at me before turning to make sure nobody saw him.

"Oh, please with this bad boy crap. I know you're as good a friend as you've always been."

"How do you know?"

"Well, you push me around this hospital, you want me to remember what I've lost for no other reason than I should remember, and you are, despite all your fussing, still sitting in here and reading to me," I smile smugly.

"Smug isn't a good look on you, and if you keep teasing me I'm going to stop reading to you."

"Okay, okay," I relent, thinking about how had I been able to use my arms I'd have tossed them up in surrender. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"If we're talking does that mean I can stop reading?"

"Yes."

"Then yes." He closes the book quickly, but still marks the page we left off on.

"Are Leo and Delaney friends?"

"Where did that come from?"

"I feel like they're really cold to each other. But every time I ask if they don't like each other they don't answer me."

"To be honest, I don't know. Delaney hasn't been here very long and you guys have never really hung out with her."

"What?"

"What?"

"She said she stopped by all the time before she had to be admitted."

"I've never seen her here before she got admitted."

"That doesn't make sense. Why would Laney lie to me?"

Hunter just shrugged. "Look Piper, I don't really know the girl so I'm not going to tell you how you should feel about her. But I really don't like her. You know she's the one who started Jordi selling his meds right?"

"Laney? No way, she doesn't even do drugs."

"You mean she didn't do drugs. You're missing months of memory, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but…" My head was throbbing. "She's not… ahh!" I want so desperately to reach a hand up and cradle my head.

"What's wrong?"

"I head…it hurts." I whimper out.

"Nurse Jackson!" Hunter runs from the room, but everything goes black before they return.

* * *

_It's like a dream, but it's not a dream at all, sitting in my doctor's office hearing the word cancer over and over again. I feel like throwing up so I run to the bathroom. They were migraines not a tumor._

_"Piper!"_

_It's my dad, knocking on the bathroom door. No, wait, that's not his voice._

_"Piper!"_

_It's Jordi, smiling at me as we sit in chairs with IVs in our arms. He's not speaking English and an old man is glaring in our direction, but that just makes us laugh more. Some old doctor walks in and opens his mouth._

_"Piper, wake up!"_

My eyes open slowly and I look around confused. Doctor McAndrew is standing over me, checking my pulse and flashing that bright light in my eyes. Nurse Jackson and Kenji check vitals from all sorts of machines and everyone is talking over each other.

"Piper, can you tell me where you are?"

"Can you stop yelling?"

"Answer the question." McAndrew says seriously, but he does lower his voice to from geriatric to indoor.

"Ocean Park, in my room, the same one I've lived in for like two months now. You are Dr. McAndrew, that's Nurse Jackson, and that is Nurse Kenji."

"Alright, no need to show off." McAndrew smiles a little. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"My head hurt and then I fell asleep."

"More like passed out," I turned to the doorway and noticed Hunter was standing there.

"Sorry," I smile apologetically. "But I think I had a dream or something. I need to talk to Jordi."

"I'll get him."

"I need to make sure you're okay first," McAndrew says sternly, but Hunter was already gone. In the end, McAndrew decides I need a CAT scan to be safe, and as they load me up and start towards the elevator Jordi comes by.

"Hey, just the guy I was looking for. Walk with us." I smile, trying to ease the worry clearly etched across his face. I wonder why I feel so protective of this guy, like I have to watch out for him.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, McAndrew just wants a CAT scan to be safe."

"Okay…so, what did you want to talk about?"

The elevator doors ding open and we all squeeze in.

"I had a dream, or a memory I think but you have to tell me if it really happened."

"Okay."

"We were in Chemo, I think. We had these IVs in our arms and we were sitting in the cushy chairs."

"Happened."

"We were talking in Spanish, and laughing."

"Also happened."

"There was an angry old guy glaring at us."

"Happened, but he didn't glare when we were speaking in Spanish, only the first Chemo session when we were talking in English."

"What happened to him?"

"He died." Jordi smiled sadly.

"Yeah, I feel like I knew that."

"You never asked, but one day he wasn't there anymore. I finally worked up the courage to ask."

"We used to speak in Spanish together a lot, didn't we?"

"Yeah."

"We really were friends."

"Yeah."

"I remember you not doing bad things."

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't have let Delaney talk me into doing what I did."

"So Hunter was right, huh?"

"About what?"

"Delaney. She does drugs. She asked for your drugs and you gave them to her."

"I shouldn't have agreed in the first place."

"No, but at least you admit you were wrong."

* * *

Two days after my fainting incident and the CAT scan cleared me of any further issues, I was absolutely through the roof because my finger had finally started moving. It was surprisingly easy to get all my other fingers moving once I'd learned how to move one. One finger at a time, in the course of only one day, I started moving. It wasn't perfect movement, more of a jerky thing, and I could only move them one at a time, but Mike told me that was step one through ten out of the way already, and that made me feel better.

After PT I was being pushed back towards my room when I ran into Delaney. She smiled and made a beeline for me, practically forcing control of my wheelchair from Brittany. "Oh, my God! Pipes, it's been days since you've been to see me."

"Can you not call me that?" My faces scrunched of its own accord and I wasn't sure why but that nickname suddenly felt all wrong.

"But I've always called you that."

"Yeah, but…" I didn't really have anything else to say, I just knew I didn't want to be called that anymore.

"You're being weird, Pipes." Delaney waved her hand, something I could only tell because I saw the shadow and felt the absence of one hand on my chair.

"Delaney, seriously. Don't call me that anymore."

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Did you ask Jordi to give you his pills?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Why would you even ask me that?"

"Because two people have told me you did."

"Was one of those two people Jordi?" I didn't answer and she scuffed. "Yeah, well maybe he's just trying to blame me so he looked better. Did you ever think of that?"

"I remembered him."

"What?" This time she stopped pushing me and came around to look me in the face. "What did you say?"

"I passed out, like two days ago, and I remembered some things. I remembered being told I had a tumor, and I remembered going to Chemo with Jordi."

"Was that all you remembered?"

"Yeah."

"Then why is that enough for you to take his word over mine?"

"Because this entire time we've felt off, Laney. I gain memories and they're of strangers, not you. And I look at you and…you aren't the same person I remember being friends with. Why is that? Why is it easier for me to believe that I was friends with Jordi than for me to believe I was still friends with you?"

"Did Leo put you up to this?"

"What? What does Leo even have to do with this?"

"Fine! We weren't still friends. I – I ditched you for a party and you were stuck outside for, like hours, before your mom came and got you. When I saw you again in the hospital, it was the first time I'd seen you in months. You wouldn't even talk to me. But then you had that surgery and you didn't remember that you were mad and I thought…" She shrugged as though it wasn't a big deal.

"You just thought you'd mess with my mind? Instead of trying an I'm sorry, you lied to me?" My heart is pounding, and I feel like throwing up. "What else have you lied about?"

"Nothing! Please don't be mad at me, Pipes –"

"Don't call me that! Don't you ever c-call me that again," I start to cry and my voice catches which annoys me because I just want to scream. "I hate you." I whisper. "I hate you so much, you selfish bitch!"

"Piper, please." Tears start forming in her eyes too, but I don't feel sorry for her at all.

"What's going on in here?" Brittany comes back.

"I want to go to my room."

"Piper," Delaney reaches out.

"No. Don't touch me, don't talk to me. I never want to see you again, but until I can manage that forget you ever knew me." Brittany waited for me to finish talking before she grabbed my chair and rolled me out of there.

"Do you want to talk? Maybe some ice cream?"

"No, I just wanna go to sleep."

"Okay."

She got me into bed and left, but I didn't actually sleep. Delaney had asked if Leo had anything to do with my questioning her. I didn't understand what she meant, but thinking on all the icy looks they gave each other, and the tense stalemate they seemed to have been in, I started to feel sick. Had Leo known all along that Delaney had lied to me? Had anyone else?


End file.
